The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-31

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usually given in excuse for some dis
appointment or dissatisfaction with
our environment.
Looking facts steadily in the face
never makes them any worse, and
need net make US unhopeful. Not
what England or Germany ought to
do, influenced Prince Alexander's ac-
tions, but just the attitude in which
the surrounding countries stood to
Bulgaria necessitated his abdication.
Anybody can fall below his average
standard without an effort. No one
can rise above his average standard
without an effort. This suggests the
direction in which our endeavors
ought to be constantly making. Un-
less we try to gain, we shall never ad-
vance. Unless we try to gain, we
shall drop backward. 1t is just here
that 80 much depends on our Ideals
in our minds and in our models. If
we have the inspiration and the en-
citement Of noble inspiration, or of a
noble example, we are likely to be
striving to be better than our best. If
there is nothing before us which we
recognize as beyond our own highest
attainment, we are in danger of fail
ing to keep up with our former mark
of progress. One of the bright stories
of Margaret Gatty tells of q school-boy
who had a high reputation as a mimic.
1t seemed as though he could he just
like any one whom he pleased to iml-
tate. But wiser friend asked him to
show how the handsomest boy in the
school looked, and how the best speak
er declaimed. Then, as the young
mimic found himself quite incompe-
tent to this, he realized that all of his
power of imitation lay in the direc-
ton Of lowering his own standard,
and of mimicking defects which had
not vet become his own. And it
would be we'll if others also realized
this truth rs to their power of imita-
ton. 1t is so much easier to fall than
to rise. Blessed is he whose inspiring
ideal, in his friendships and in his
spiritual life, is way above his present
possibilities Of attainment.
No brother can win "glory" from
the death of brother Cain won no
"gloryn when he slew Abel; nor
would Abel have won "glory" had he,
in the exercise of strict self-defense,
succeeded in Staying the wicked Cain.
The soul recoils in horror from the
thought of praise or honor as the need
of any such melancholy, hateful sue
cess. And what is true of contest
between two brothers, is equally true
of contest between many. No army
can win glory, by dealing death or de-
feat to an army of brothers. AS all
men are brothers, so by irreslstlble
consequence all war must be fraticldal.
And can glory come from fratricide
No! no! Tell me not, then, of the
homage which the world yet offers to
the military chieftain. Tell me not OF
the "glory" of war. Tell me not OF
the "honOr', or "fame" won OH its
murderous field. All is vanity. 1t is
blood-red phantom, sure to fade and
disappear. Nobler aims, by nobler
means, shall fill the soul. A new
standard of excellence shall prevail ;
and honor, divorced from all deeds OF
blood, shall become the inseparable at
tendant of good works alone. Far
better, then, shall it be, even in the
Judgment of this world, to have been
a doorkeeper in the house of Peace,
than the proudest dweller in the tents
of War.-ChdrleS Sumner.
Asa member of the universal church
of love and brotherhood, can not but
declare my most vigorous opposition
against war in all its forms. 1 have
come to Christian country in order
to study all the varied and numerous
phases of Christian thought, feeling,
and action but I must say, candidly,
I can not understand how Christians,
as Christians, can fight so brutally as
they often do. AS a Hindoo, can
not understand; and look upon it as q
great anomaly in Christendom, how,
wear after year, the most deadly wea-
pons, and engines of torture and war
are being invented, in order to carry
the art Of sIaughtering our brother
man to perfection. These are barbara
ties these are brutal things which
have cast slur upon Christian ma
tion, and which, for the honor Of a
Christian nation, ought to be removed
instantaneously. really can not tell
how the followers Of the Prince of
Peace can ever 90 to war. 1 can not
for one moment, believe that men can
live and die true Christians. without
doing all in their power to check and
arrest the growth and spirit of war.
The demon of war requires to be crush
ed down Immediately and in every
possible way. o, for the day when
the din of battle shall no longer be
heard upon the earth!
A church that is all doctrine, which
appeals only to the intellect, is like a
human skeleton without flesh. 1T is
stiff, cold and Iifeless. And a church
which appeals only. or largely, to the
emotions, to the feelings, is Ikea body
of flesh without bones. There may be
life enough, but it lacks strength,
form, and endurance. Many churches
now are strongly tending that way.
1t is an unnatural, unhealthy growth.
We need doctrine and feeling, bone
and flesh, to 60 together. This is
Gods plan.